Well, Cancun did not totally collapse . . . but the outcome was maybe worse. What we now have is a one-year stall with very little to show for it. The targets are basically useless. The only thing this agreement has created is an excuse to keep talking without doing anything. As I argued the other day, we might be better off if the whole thing just collapsed, creating the space and urgency needed to really push forward the various state, city and local initiatives that seem to be the only effective measures that are moving us toward real emissions reductions and a sustainable future. Instead, this agreement creates a counter-argument – just hang on, don’t do anything yourselves, and the countries will figure this out soon.

[…] any real action down the road a year, making things harder to achieve under any circumstances. We already knew this. But, even under the good scenarios, we were going to come up short of what was needed – […]